About How Come?

Welcome. HOwCOme is a new blog for those willing to consider the hard questions we should be asking about issues which affect our quality of life in HOCO and beyond.

It is designed for those not yet lulled—or bullied—into complacency. It’s for those willing to question the status quo and/or future directions espoused by those wrapped in some commonly held “group think.” It questions the belief that some must lose for others to win. It is designed to stimulate conversation and real thought—not just reiterate, mantra-like, a list of partisan sounding talking points.

A variety of concerns will be examined, but the overall focus will be on change—paradoxically, both why changes regarded as undesirable seem to assault us regularly and with great rapidity AND why desired changes often feel unobtainable or painfully slow in coming. [How come it takes me 50% longer to get to work than it did 10 years ago? How come no one is considering that our health and safety are being jeopardized by industrial mulching activity? How come allegedly well-meaning people are advocating housing low income people in apartments OVER TOP of a fire station? How come the most awarded County sells itself short to developers with lowered expectations? How come we’re asked to embrace anything described as vibrant?]

Some bloggers, through speculation and innuendo, would have you believe they have all the answers and that only a fool would ignore their perspective. But this blogger will research the issues and identify the questions that need to be asked. I will seek to engage you in a thoughtful and civil exploration of things that matter. I will also invite other community advocates to share their local perspective/submit blogs or topics.

This blog, most simply stated, is targeted at people who care. While this blog will undoubtedly point out shortcomings, controversies, and perceived injustices—it is nevertheless designed to be a vessel of hope and a vehicle for change resulting from the generation of alternatives and solutions.

HOwCome is designed initially for those engaged citizen advocates willing to play an active role—but also for those who can hopefully be motivated to action on a concern that speaks to them. It is aimed at those not satisfied to just sit by and complain. It is for those actually willing to show up at a townhall, zoning, or Council meeting—as well as at a voting booth—to shape our collective future.

Meet me on the high road– Susan

PS-For those grammarians in the crowd who may be brisling at the use of ‘How Come?’ rather than ‘Why?’, please take note of this research. ‘How Come?’ is a shortened version of the phrase, “how does it come to be…”

“How come”, in its proper usage, differs from “why” in that “how come” is factive, whereas “why” is not. “How come” presupposes its complement; “why” does not. Anastasia Marie Conroy of the Linguistics Department at the University of Maryland discusses these and other differences at length in her article The Semantics of How Come: A Look At How Factivity Does It All.